“I never saw him again”: Brittany Howard’s bizarre on-stage jam with Prince
Prince always maintained something of an inhuman quality, as though he was an alien beamed down from the planet funk to gain the adoration of humanity. Throughout his long and illustrious career, the Minneapolis-born songwriter and guitarist operated on an entirely different wavelength to anybody else in pop music. On top of the incomprehensible quality of his recordings, Prince was also famed for the spectacle of his live performances. The chance to play on stage with the man himself is the stuff of rock and roll fantasies.
For some very lucky people, however, that fantasy became a reality. Over the years, Prince took part in many collaborative projects, though he seemed fairly selective with who he chose to perform with. Madonna, Beyoncé, Tom Petty, Kate Bush, Amy Winehouse, and many others performed alongside Prince, either in the studio or onstage. Despite his legendary reputation and persona, it seems as though Prince always kept his ear to the ground with regard to new music trends and supporting up-and-coming artists.
Even during his later years, Prince remained dedicated to pursuing new music and soaking in as many influences as he possibly could. So, when the Brittany Howard-fronted blues rock outfit Alabama Shakes began to rise to fame during the early 2010s, Prince was a natural fan of the group. Howard’s band was among the greatest outfits of the period, penning a variety of fantastic songs, all backed up by the awe-inspiring tones of Brittany Howard.
In 2015, their newfound fame and notoriety brought Alabama Shakes to Paisley Park in Minnesota, the colossal estate owned by Prince, which featured, among other things, multiple recording studios, a sound stage, and a public concert venue. The band was set to perform at the venue in support of their second studio album, Sound & Color, but the concert became a pivotal moment in the lives of band members after Prince outed himself as a fan of the group.
“We did a soundcheck,” Brittany Howard recalled to Mojo last year, “then his assistant said, ‘Prince would like to meet you.’ I said, ‘C’mon, y’all! Because I’m not going by myself!’ There were 15 of us in this little studio. Prince is sitting there, wearing all linen. We all smoosh ourselves onto this couch and he was so nice, and really funny.” After the band had gotten over the nerves of meeting an icon like Prince, the musician dropped something of a bombshell.
Continuing, Howard recalled, “He said, ‘I’d like to play ‘Gimme All Your Love’ with you tonight.’ So later, we’re on-stage playing our set, we get to the song, and Prince is not showing up. I’m like, ‘Did he change his mind? Are we not doing a good job?’ We keep repeating the bridge. It’s getting a little awkward.” Ever a man of his word, however, Prince was simply fashionably late, “All of a sudden,” the vocalist remembered, “this guy in a green crushed-velvet suit, with an Afro, sunglasses, and a green guitar jumps onto the stage from below. And the stage is at least six- feet tall. Vooomp! He’s right there, and just starts shredding.”
In an instance that is surely the envy of many musicians, Howard then got to harmonise with Prince. “I’m looking at him in utter disbelief,” she said, “The crowd’s going crazy. And then we were double soloing, in harmony. We go for about five minutes, finish, he kisses me on the cheek, and he leaps into the darkness and I never saw him again. Literally, he just disappeared, like a fairy would!” A fitting exit for the cosmic guitar master.
